


Seeking Power

by Akinasky



Series: SterekBingo 2019 [16]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Banshee Lydia Martin, Faeries Prompt, M/M, Magical Shapeshifting, Opening a Door, Other Realm Prompt, Shapeshifting, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Bingo, Sterek Bingo 2019, Stiles and Derek a Friends, The Raven Prompt, friends to boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 18:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19025092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akinasky/pseuds/Akinasky
Summary: Stiles tries to understand his power after making the Mountain Ash appear out of nowhere at the rave.





	1. Opening a Door

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is the Sterek Bingo Prompt: Opening a Door

The first time Stiles saw his mother after she died was after a particularly difficult day in fifth grade, he’d been beat up while Scott was wheezing and groaning on the ground next to him. One of the strikes knocked Stiles’s head to the side and he saw her, looking the same way she did on one of her last good days. She had her hair down, dark and loose. She was wearing the same blue flower dress that she loved so much. She was reaching out to him like she’d done a thousand times when his flailing had gotten him hurt.

The next time, Jackson was sticking his head in a toilet long enough that he was getting light headed and when someone came into the bathroom, Stiles was released and he saw her again and she was saying something but he couldn’t hear her.

Time went on and he started looking for her, thinking about her and hoping for her when Stiles was having a bad day or on the anniversary. Sometimes she came and sometimes she didn’t but the whole time, he was sure it was just his desire to see her when he was hurting and needing his mommy, he didn’t think it was anything other than wishful thinking.

But now that he knew about the supernatural and Scott was a werewolf and Lydia was a Banshee and Derek was a newly minted Alpha, Stiles wondered again about what this was. Though it wasn’t him, Stiles figured maybe it was Mom coming to check on him through her own steam.

When he was at the rave, and Stiles made Mountain Ash appear from nowhere he thought maybe it was him. Maybe he was bringing her to him but it wasn’t enough. Stiles was summoning her somehow. And he was going to do it on purpose.

The problem was that Stiles didn’t trust Deaton, even after he’d been proven innocent and was considered an ‘ally’, he was far to Scott-centric and vague as shit not to mention he’d left Derek alone for all that time when he could have been helping them. Deaton’s intel always seemed to lead them around in circles rather than help them. Scott loved the guy but Stiles had lost to much in his short life to trust something so important to someone shady like Deaton, plus he didn’t think Deaton would actually help him.

Instead Stiles did the only thing he knew to do when there was something he didn’t know or understand—he researched. He started with websites and lore on the internet about magic users but so much of it was ‘fiction’ and sometime the Wiccan information that talked about possible abilities or even those of Gypsy descent have lore about people with powers. It is still treated as something of a joke or something of eye rolling quality like Ghosts or the Yeti or Slender Man or Werewolves and Vampires. Stiles figured he was going to have to start looking somewhere else especially because he knew several of those things were real. He was holding out for the Yeti still even though he hadn’t seen one yet.

Stiles started visiting Scott at the Vet clinic and swiped one or two books from Deaton’s special ‘office’ in the back that they used when there was a supernatural issue going on. Stiles figured it was only there for his weird creeper ways. And he started going over to the loft when he had questions. Derek was the only one he knew he could talk to about this and maybe be understood.

The first time he knocked on the loft door, Erica pulled it open and gave him a droll look, “Batman? What brings you here?”

“I am here to see Derek,” Stiles said and pushed past Erica. She scoffed, pulling Boyd out the door and calling for Isaac to follow as well. Stiles was surprised that they were clearing out but he didn’t really want an audience.

“What do you want Stiles? Shouldn’t you be with Scott, trying to find some new and improved way to annoy me and my pack?”

“I don’t need to help Scott find new ways to annoy you, he’s pretty damn good all by himself. Plus, Scott can’t help me with this, he doesn’t want to help me with anything, he’s on the crazy Allison train again.”

Derek gave him a look, “Did he ever get off of it?”

“Fair point,” Stiles said and pulled out the books he was carting around. “So I have to ask you something and I’m pretty sure you are going to kill me for asking.”

“Then why would you ask it?” Derek asked, rolling his eyes before he turned back to the small kitchen and started cleaning up.

“Because you are the only person I think I can talk to about this.”

“About what?” Derek asked.

“About my mother, I’ve seen her. I’ve been seeing her off and on since she died. It wasn’t anything I could set my watch by, usually happened when I was highly emotional or something like that was happening but since I found out about the supernatural, I don’t think it’s just my imagination.”

Derek turned, frowning at him, “You think you are seeing her ghost or spirit?”

Stiles nodded, “I do, but every time I see her, its not enough. I want to talk to her, tell her about my crazy life. Tell her that I wanted to come out and tell her all the things I want to do with my life.”

“You can do that Stiles, go to her grave and talk to her, seeking her spirit, pulling her away from her eternal rest could hurt you both.”

“Why would you know that?” Stiles asked.

“Because Laura and I,” Derek stopped and took a deep calming breath, “We looked into calling out to them through our bonds, hoping that if we found a Druid who was willing to just help us then we could talk to our mother one last time and maybe we would be able to figure out what the hell we were supposed to do without her or any of them. Maybe I could be absolved for their deaths. All the Druids we spoke to wouldn’t chance harming their souls by moving them from their eternal resting place and if you do this, you could get her lost or worse.”

Stiles thought about that, “Then help me. Make sure that I am not going to cause her harm. Help me and maybe with my abilities, I could help you.”

Derek looked down at the ground but Stiles could _feel_ that he was tempted, it wasn’t fair that he was even offering it because Derek had lost so much and he wanted to see them again. It was blatant manipulation but Stiles didn’t know who else he could talk to or trust.

He headed for the door, “Think about it man, we can help each other.” Stiles left without another word, if Derek was willing to help him then the best thing that Stiles could do was let him think about things and not talk him to death about it.

Derek would not be convinced by Stiles’s yammering.

Stiles went back to Deaton’s books, he made extensive notes inside a notebook which he entitled: _The Other Side_ and always took the books back to Deaton’s before he took another and hoped that no one knew what he was doing.

Stiles found spells and rituals that allowed people to speak to the dead or open doorways into another realm to speak to them but Stiles was firstly trying to figure out how he’d done it without any of that. There was the fact that Deaton called him a Spark and at the time, he hadn’t meant it like Stiles had powers but that he was able to believe the barrier was going to happen. But believing in the barrier was not the same thing as making the Mountain Ash appear out of nowhere.

When he found ‘Spark, The’ there wasn’t much more than what he already knew. What he did find was about half a dozen names for what he could have been; half of those being on all the websites about fiction so he had no idea where to go from here.

Stiles marked all the spells or rituals that he could use and maybe Derek would be open to at least discussing the pros and cons of them. Maybe telling Stiles ‘no’ would make the Sourwolf feel better.

When he went to the loft, Erica, Boyd and Isaac cleared out again and Stiles frowned at them. When they were alone Stiles pointed at the door, “Why do they keep leaving when I come here?”

Derek muttered something and went to the kitchen to get them something to drink.

“What was that?” Stiles asked.

“What did you have to show me?” Derek asked instead and Stiles let it go. Whatever reason they had for leaving wasn’t really any of Stiles’s business and it made these little tête-à-têtes a little easier because he didn’t have to explain himself to all of them.

Stiles pulled out all of the notes he had on the spells and rituals and Derek sat down with him to study it all. They were there long enough that the betas came back and gave them funny looks before they headed upstairs to the other bedroom. Stiles knew that they were going to hear everything so he pilled everything up.

“Let me know what you think, okay?” he asked Derek and the werewolf nodded.

It took a couple more get togethers’ before Derek was willing to try one of the spells. Stiles went about his business but learned about occult shops and ordered things that were definitely going to have Dad wondering what he was getting into if the Sheriff was around to get the mail. Thankfully, Stiles had a couple of options, one of which was Derek’s loft. The werewolf was willing to accept the packages for him and soon they had everything they needed for trial one.

And just in time for summer too.

Derek and Stiles met out in the Preserve, mostly because if there was any weirdness or fireworks, they wanted it to be out of sight of the general public. People still didn’t go to the Preserve unless they had to or they were camping and that was never near the Hale house because to this day it was still private property.

Stiles went through the motions of the spell and then sat cross-legged and started the chanting under his breath. Every couple of couplets Stiles looked around seeing nothing until finally he slumped and looked at Derek, “I don’t understand, this is supposed to work.”

Derek shrugged, “Maybe it’s not supposed to work because she was never summoned this way.”

“I just want to see her, talk to her!” Stiles snapped and turned again as he started picking up all the detritus from the ritual.

He kept muttering to himself for a couple minutes then Derek called, “Stiles!”

“What!” he snarled and turned to see her. His mom was there, standing in the clearing but she wasn’t whole. She was see through which was weird enough but also clothed in a weird rose colored robe that wasn’t like anything she would have worn. It was nothing like he’d ever seen before. “Mom?” he asked.

She smiled, “Mischief, what are you doing?”

Stiles walked a couple steps closer, “I just wanted to see you and talk to you again. But the spell didn’t work. Or did it?”

She shook her head, smiling sadly, “My sweet boy, you don’t need spells. You don’t need anything to bring about your will except control and knowing what you should and shouldn’t be doing with that power.”

Stiles frowned, “Are you telling me that I shouldn’t try to call you?”

She looked at Derek and smiled, “Derek Hale, your mother used to call you ‘Little Wolf’ yes?”

Stiles turned and watched as Derek nodded, “How did you know that?”

“Because I come from a place that doesn’t believe in separating anyone because of what they are. Our families have always been in close proximity and the two of you have been coming ever closer to one another in the past years, because of that I am able to communicate and know your mother and your family. Laura is sad to be there instead of with you but she knows that you are going to find your way. And your mother loves you. She is proud to know that the Hale Alpha-hood is living on in you.”

Stiles smiled at Derek then stepped closer to his mother and bringing her attention back to him, “Mom, what about me? Are you saying that I shouldn’t contact you again?”

She smiled at him, holding her hand out and it wavered over his cheek and Stiles closed his eyes to imagine her touching him. “My sweet Mischief, there will be times in your life that you cannot help but reach out for me and I am going to be there to answer but seeking me out and bringing me here will only make it impossible for you to move on. That is what I want for you. Learning to lean on your dad and your friends; old and new. You are on the right path, lean into the loss and lean into relationships.”

Then before he could say anything. Anything at all that he wanted to tell her, his mom was gone.

“No, come back!” he screamed into the darkness and threw what he was holding. Something cracked and broke, shards bouncing off the light of the moon as he screamed out the pain of being told he couldn’t call her back.

Derek walked over and wrapped him in his arms and Stiles fought if for a moment then just collapsed into the embrace, letting himself cry over all the times he’d wanted his mom to be with him.

“I know, Stiles, I know. It’s going to be okay,” Derek whispered.

“I wanted her back, I need her back! Why couldn’t she just be here with me and tell me that everything is going to be okay and that I was going to see her again!”

“She did tell you those things,” Derek crooned gently and Stiles tried to shove him off.

“Fuck you Derek!”

Derek held on tight as he continued, “She told you that you would reach out to her and she would be there and that if you just lean into the loss but also the relationships you have now, everything was going to be fine.”

Stiles grunted and tried to push Derek off again but he didn’t let Stiles go, instead the werewolf just held him as he sobbed of losing her all over again.

Magic wasn’t going to fix this.

_Nothing was going to fix this!_


	2. The Raven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is continuing his magic training and has a mishap including feathers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two is The Raven Sterek Bingo prompt.

After Stiles called his mother to the Preserve and she told him that he didn’t need spells to use his powers, he decided to continue trying to figure out how they worked, which meant he was still stealing books from Deaton and he was still hanging out at Derek’s place when he found something new to try.

He tried to stay away from anything séance-like or anything that might bring back his mom because if her last message to him was to _not_ use magic to bring her forth then he was going to honor her wishes.

Maybe he would see her again, maybe he wouldn’t but that couldn’t be his goal anymore.

A couple weeks into summer, he burst into Derek’s loft shouting, “I found something!”

No one answered back and Stiles sighed, slumping over to the couch and started spreading out the books and notes he’d been making the newest magic he’d been learning. It was going to be something really useful if he could make it work.

Stiles was going to make it work! He clapped his hands and then started some meditation breathing because he’d learned that it was currently the best way to access the power he had. It was a weird thing that was hard to explain which is why he hadn’t explained to anyone except Derek.

Not even Scott knew. He was still chasing after Allison like a Stalker!Puppy despite the fact that her dad could and might kill him for it. Despite the fact that the Argents agreed to follow their little Code of Conduct, the same one that many of the alphas across the nation agreed to, policing werewolves was an important part of their world but they weren’t the only Argents and Derek and Stiles already knew that they could and would go against the Code for their own agendas. Hopefully Scott wouldn’t learn the hard way for the sake of a girl.

Stiles shook off the deep thoughts and went back to imagining the intent that he had this time. It wasn’t going to be about bringing anyone to him, it was changing something about himself.

Derek and the others did it to themselves, he could do it too.

It was just going to take some magic and a lot of control.

 

Derek heard the thump as soon as he was in the building, walking up to the loft. Erica and Boyd were at home with their families and Isaac was having some weird date night with Allison and Scott or maybe just Scott. He couldn’t really figure it out and didn’t care.

He could smell Stiles in the stairwell and smiled, couldn’t help himself. Derek loved spending time with Stiles and though they had learned what he’d known already – that Stiles couldn’t start playing with calling the dead to this plane the teenager hadn’t let that stop him from continuing his studies. Derek was proud that he decided to trust his mother’s word. Derek couldn’t imagine the self-control it took not to reach out to his mother when he knew she was just one ‘spell’ away from him.

Stiles was tempted, Derek knew that better than anyone else could but he made a promise that day in the Preserve and as far as Derek knew, Stiles had kept it.

He opened the loft door, letting it slide across the tracks and frowned when he didn’t immediately see Stiles. “Stiles? Where are you?”

Something thumped upstairs and Derek dropped the groceries in the kitchen before heading towards the stairs. “I told you not to play around up here. Off limits to weirdos practicing the Dark Arts.”

“I’m not practicing the Dark Arts, don’t be stupid Derek,” Stiles scoffed from the closet and Derek frowned.

“I thought you already had your ‘coming out’ party.”

“Shut the fuck up Derek and don’t open the door!” Stiles squealed.

It was Derek’s closet so he ignored Stiles and opened the door, getting a face full of black feathers for his troubles. Derek waved his hands in front of his face until the black fluttering died down and looked down, laughing before he could stop himself.

Stiles was crouched in the bottom of the closet, with black feathers sticking out of his arms and his chest, having burst through and ripped apart his clothing. “What the hell is this?”

“I was trying to shapeshift into a Raven.”

Derek tried to control his laughter, frowning then without his say-so the frown shifted into a smirk. He tried to bring it back to a frown again but couldn’t, “Why a raven?”

Stiles shrugged, or what should have been a shrug under all the feathers. “Thought that wolves and ravens always work so well together maybe if I learned that shape first then I could move on to something different but it would be something that you would trust.”

Derek held his hands out and helped Stiles to his feet, “No matter your shape, Stiles, I am always going to trust you.”

Stiles’s face flushed as Derek moved them over to the bed and set Stiles on the edge of it. “I don’t think I am going to be stuck this way, as soon as I came back to myself, the beak went away and the feathers started molting off me.”

“Molting?” Derek asked as he motioned for Stiles to raise his arms. Stiles listened but rolled his eyes as Derek pulled the tattered shirt off him.

“That’s what its called when birds lose their feathers,” Stiles informed him.

“Well, unlike your clear desire you are not a bird. Did you think it through if you turned into a raven and didn’t know how to turn back? Maybe shapeshifting shouldn’t be your next goal, at least until you have a chance to talk to someone with these abilities.”

Stiles frowned, “And who would that be genius?”

Derek reached out and started gently tugging the feathers off of Stiles’s chest, one by one. Some of them were still very much a part of him so Derek would ease off of those and try another. After pulling a couple of them off Derek answered, “Maybe it’s time to trust someone with this?”

“I do trust someone, I trust you,” Stiles said and Derek nodded.

“But I can’t help you if you take this too far, too fast. Let me help you find someone you can trust. I know that you have issues with Deaton but maybe he knows someone with the same abilities. Maybe he knows someone who can train you?”

“Maybe the only person who could have helped me is dead and outside my grasp,” Stiles said, ripping out a handful of feathers and leaving blood welling to the surface. Derek grabbed a nearby handful of tissues and pressed it gently to the bleeding part of the human’s arm.

“Your mom?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded glumly.

Derek scented the depression seeping into the air around them and figured he needed to do something different if he was going to convince Stiles of anything and get him through this crappy misstep.

“You know, I bet you couldn’t find anyone like your mom, its not like you know anything about search engines or finding anything, right?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Yeah okay that was about as subtle as a sledgehammer but I see your point. Maybe I will ask some questions and I will definitely try some other exercises before I come back to shapeshifting, happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Derek responded and continued to gently pluck the feathers off of Stiles’s body before he grabbed a damp washcloth to wipe away the blood before he wrapped Stiles in one of his zippered sweaters and had him lay back on the bed.

“I am a little sleepy but you have to promise not to tell the kids about this, they would never let me live it down.”

‘The Kids’ were Erica, Boyd and Isaac to Stiles, Derek nodded in agreement then while Stiles drifted off for a little healing nap which immediately started knitting the little wounds all over his chest as soon as Stiles was sleeping; Derek started cleaning all the evidence of the magical mishap out and away.

The wolf inside growled contently at the thought of caring for this particular pack member even though it bristled at the thought of dealing with Scott or Jackson. The others didn’t need to know anything except Stiles had been in his room sleeping off some magical spell. They didn’t need to know about the plucking or the ridiculousness of Stiles half sprouted body.

Derek was terrified to know how that had gone sideways but it would help Stiles if they talked about it so he would listen and then he would support Stiles finding _someone_ to help him get in touch with his abilities.


	3. Faeries and Other Realms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia goes missing and Stiles is going to use his abilities to find her. He ends up in another world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sterek Bingo Prompt: Other Realms and Faeries

Lydia went missing about a month before the school year was set to start again and Stiles and the pack were all at the loft looking over the maps, trying to figure out where she could be or who took her. He wanted to use some magic to see if he could pin down her location but he didn’t know how to just open up to the rest of them about his burgeoning powers and abilities.

“I don’t know what we are supposed to do, there was no scent trail,” Scott said, pacing around the room.

Derek looked at Stiles and cleared his throat but Stiles shook his head. So he spoke instead, “Why don’t we split up and keep searching around town. Stiles and I will stay here for now, see if we can make some calls.”

Stiles nodded and the others followed suit. There was a mass exodus for the door and they were left alone in the loft. “You can do something? To search for her right?” Derek asked.

Stiles opened his notebook to look over all the information he had on locator spells and dragged Lydia’s purse which they found and dragged her phone out of it. Stiles used it to connect to Lydia’s essence. The phone was the best thing because she used it so much, magic wasn’t blood and hair and teeth—not for Stiles anyway.

Stiles closed his eyes and used the power base inside him and held his hands over the map. He took a couple of deep breaths and let himself just drop his hand then opened his eyes and frowned as he looked at it. “The bridge? That’s weird.”

Derek nodded, “You want to go check it out or send the pack to the location?”

Stiles got up, “I want to see where this leads us.”

Derek nodded and they headed out towards where he thought she would be. Where the magic told him, she would be and when they got to the bridge, Derek scented the air while Stiles looked around for any proof that Lydia had been there and disappeared from somewhere nearby.

“This is where the locator spell said she disappeared from, are you getting anything?”

Derek walked over the bridge and looked over, into the water and Stiles frowned as he followed the werewolf, “There is something here. I don’t understand though; the trail just stops in midair. It’s really weird.”

Stiles closed his eyes and tried to focus on Lydia’s trail, gripping her phone in his pocket. Derek was right, the trail just stopped in the middle of the air. Stiles clambered up onto the railing and Derek gasped.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

”Something, I don’t know.” Stiles said, he didn’t even open his eyes. Derek climbed up next to him, “Are you going with me then?”

“Where you are going is a dip in the shitty river, so I guess so,” Derek rolled his eye, not that Stiles could see it since his eyes were closed.

“I can hear you rolling your eyes,” Stiles said then jumped before Derek could stop him. Derek reached out and his hand caught Stiles’s sleeve and it dragged them both off of the bridge and about the time they should have been taking a dip in the water Derek stumbled and looked around.

“What the heck?” Stiles demanded as he looked around as well.

Derek sniffed then sneezed, “What the hell? Where are we? And why aren’t we wet?”

Stiles looked around as well, they weren’t on the bridge and the river wasn’t there. It was a whole different landscape and everything was different, like it had a filter on it.

He closed his eyes again and reached out for Lydia and turned, “Lydia is that way.”

“So we aren’t going to talk about the fact that you somehow brought us into a different world?”

Stiles shrugged and started walking, Derek had no choice but to follow or be left behind. He wasn’t going to let Stiles run off anywhere by himself when the human was prone to getting himself in trouble without even trying. Derek didn’t think being in a different realm or world was going to change that.

Derek followed Stiles for a couple more minutes before they came into an open space and Stiles paused. “Is she close?” Derek asked.

Stiles turned a little, looking around and frowned, “I think so, but the feeling of seeking her out just keeps bouncing back like Lydia is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I don’t know what to think about that. I know she’s here.”

There was a sound and Derek turned towards it, seeing a couple of people. He snarled, shifting to stand between them and Stiles. The human turned to look at the gathering and snorted. Derek didn’t think that was the best reaction but he couldn’t stop Stiles from being ridiculous and having a death wish.

The people coming towards them were about aa foot and a half shorter than Stiles and Derek, they were proportional and beautiful, graceful and they made Derek tense. They were strong and dangerous, no matter what they looked like.

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski, Derek Hale, you have come to seek your friend.”

Derek nodded, “Is she here?”

The grouping of people moved and Lydia was there behind them. She was kneeling on the ground, hands in her lap calmly sitting there like she was mediating like Derek had seen Stiles do countless times since he came to Derek about contacting his mother.

“Can we go? Take her home?” Stiles asked, actually utilizing the brain he had to keep from making the unknown situation worse.

One of the women moved a little forward, separating herself from the group. She smiled as she came closer, reaching her hand out to touch Stiles but Derek moved in front of him again. She looked at Derek with a gentle smile, “You have nothing to fear, wolf. He will only have to give some small token in exchange for the Banshee.”

“Banshee?” Stiles asked.

The woman turned and gestured towards Lydia, “I can help you find your way as well.”

Stiles shook his head, “I don’t know what your talking about but this isn’t about me. This is about getting Lydia home. I don’t know why you took her but she doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t belong with whoever you are.”

“She is one of us, so are you, I seek not to harm those who are one of us but as I mentioned there is a small token I would have before I send you back to the surface world.”

“What token?” Stiles asked, “I don’t have anything with me to give.”

“I want a kiss, something you desire most but fear to have. I want to see you take it.”

Derek looked at Stiles and glanced over at Lydia, wondering if he was going to have to watch them make out. Was Lydia even capable of consenting in her still state? Stiles stepped around Derek and looked at the woman, “If I give you this, we go free?”

The woman/creature nodded, but before Derek could even comprehend what was happening Stiles turned and stepped into Derek’s body and pressed their lips together in a quick kiss. Stiles pulled back and looked into his eyes, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

In a blink they were back on the bridge and Stiles was helping Lydia to her feet and pulling her into a tight hug, “Are you okay?” Derek asked.

Lydia nodded into Stiles’s shoulder and he sent out a mass text, letting them all know that Lydia was okay then made sure that both humans got home safely before he went back to the loft and slumped down on the couch trying not to think about the kiss but couldn’t help it. There had always been something between him and Stiles, most of the time it was annoyance and distaste but things had changed. He couldn’t get involved though, Stiles was still a teenager and he didn’t know what he wanted. How could he? How could he possibly want Derek?

It took three days for Stiles to get fed up with Derek not returning his messages or calls, before coming to his door. Stiles slammed his hand against the door demanding, “I am coming in and we are going to talk about this!”

Derek walked over and opened the door before the human destroyed it with his magic or something. Stiles came inside, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets and glaring at Derek.

“I can’t do this anymore Stiles, I can’t keep pretending that I don’t want to have more with you – knowing that you feel the same way.”

Stiles slumped a little, “Okay, not what I imagined you were going to say and also… that’s stupid.”

Derek snorted, “Oh really? So, you want to explain to your Sheriff father that you are interested in a guy in his twenties and all the times he thought you were hanging out with your school age friends, you were here with me?”

Stiles waved that off, “Well he doesn’t need to know all that.”

Derek shook his head sadly, “I’ve been someone’s secret before and it destroyed me and everyone I loved. I won’t do it again, even for you. I respect myself a little more these days and I respect your father.”

Stiles nodded, “Can I still come over here to work on my magic or are you just deciding for me that we can’t even be friends anymore? It’s not like I would have done it any other time, I don’t really just kiss people like that.”

“I can appreciate the weirdness of the situation but I am going to need some time. Maybe for now you spend some of your magic time with Lydia, she apparently isn’t just human either, maybe you guys can figure things out together.”

Stiles took a deep breath, “Can I text you in a couple days?”

Derek nodded and watched as Stiles picked up a few notebooks and textbooks that he’d left her before they were transported into that other world and headed out of the loft.

It wasn’t until the betas came over to the loft that he even knew what he was feeling was sadness and loss until they climbed up onto the couch and snuggled into him. Derek let them do it because he needed the comfort and they wanted to share their warmth and closeness. It reminded him of all the times with his family and Derek pulled them in closer as he sniffed back the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

 

Stiles gave Derek a week with absolutely no contact and when he told Lydia about the magic he’d been practicing, she gladly forced him into a more scientific method of figuring out his powers and why they worked and how. It was helpful, but Stiles missed Derek’s eye rolling and bluster. Lydia was more than capable of rolling her eyes at him and she did it plenty but Derek had a way about him when he did it and Stiles just wanted to go back over to the loft and hang out.

He kind of hated that woman/creature that somehow knew exactly how much he wanted to kiss Derek and used it to leverage them.

Stiles wasn’t sorry that he and Lydia were getting closer in their joint weirdness, sine Stiles told her all about the weirdness he’d been experiencing she returned the favor and told him about the dreams and the screaming and the knowledge of people dying that she would learn about in the newspaper. She’d been hiding it from them and Stiles was glad they didn’t have to be alone anymore.

He still missed Derek.

Stiles texted Derek and the werewolf answered that he needed more time so Stiles went back to dealing with his magic and Lydia’s new position as a Banshee. Apparently, if the mythology could be believed, being a Banshee came from Fae blood which Stiles and Lydia down a whole new rabbit hole of research. Stiles had assumed that his powers were inherent or something like being a druid but the creature in that different world claimed that he was one of them.

Maybe they were fairies.

It was enough of a mystery that Stiles was involved not to notice the passage of about three days then he just started missing Derek again and ended up sitting at Lydia’s with his face in his hands groaning.

“Why don’t you just stop being a passive dude and go talk to him!” Lydia snarled; she was at the end of her rope with Stiles’s mood apparently.

“Because he asked me not to and no matter what everyone thinks about me, I do have stopping power and if this is about Derek needing space then he deserve to have it.”

“You never gave me space, stalker,” Lydia responded with a raised brow.

“I was stupid and that wasn’t okay. I am sorry about all that. There are some things about Derek that are holding me back.”

Lydia nodded and took out her phone and found a number and pressed the call button while Stiles stared at her in confusion. When someone picked up Stiles recognized that snapping, “What!” anywhere. He got up and tried to get the phone but Lydia was somehow faster than him.

“Derek, I know that you and Stiles are in a weird place but I think you should both get over your emotional constipation and talk to each other instead of me and the pack.”

“Whu?” Stiles muttered and he could hear Derek stammering too.

“You both care about each, its so obvious it embarrassing for anyone who comes into contact with the two of you so just come over here and talk it out.”

“Lydia!” Stiles snapped then she nodded and hung up. She calmly went back to her research about teleporting or portals (that was their newest topic in the magical realm. She didn’t say anything leaving Stiles to assume that he’d told her a hard ‘no’ so he went back to what he was reading while he glanced at her every couple of minutes.

There was a knock at the door and Stiles stared at it then snapped a look to Lydia who just shook her head, “That’s for you, numb-nuts.”

Stiles glared, getting up and wiping his hands on his pants, “Leave my nuts out of this. I am going to remember this Lydia.”

“It’s going to be in my toast at your wedding, so you’re welcome.”

Stiles rolled his eyes then turned towards the door and walked over, opening it before he chickened out. Derek was standing there looking delicious as per usual and more than a little nervous.

“Hey Derek, fancy seeing you here.”

“Would you like to take a walk with me?”

Stiles nodded, stepping outside and following Derek away from the house. “Sorry about this, Lydia is a jerk.”

Derek shrugged, “She’s right. We need to talk about this.”

“I like having you in my life Derek, I don’t need it to be about romantic stuff. I like being friends, do I want some other things as well, sure, but I can live without them. I just want to keep being in your life.”

Derek shook his head, “It won’t work. It can’t.”

Stiles took in a shuddering breath; this was like a nightmare and he didn’t want to be awake. _Please let me be asleep right now._ He wished.

“It won’t work because we both want more, to be friends and more but I need to know that we are going to be honest with your father and our friends.”

Stiles stopped in his tracks and stared at Derek’s back then the strong edge of his shoulder then his chest as he turned to look back at Stiles.

He let his eyes raise to Derek’s soft face, “Oh god, you’re not kidding. You aren’t fucking with me, right?”

Derek frowned, “I wouldn’t do that.” He walked back a little, taking one of Stiles’s hands in his, “I don’t want to rush this and screw it up but I do care about you and its more than friendship. The woman may have leveraged your secret so you deserve to know that you aren’t alone in those feelings. I just didn’t want to feel like I was taking advantage.”

Stiles knew about Kate, he’d guessed most of it so he understood why Derek would carry that fear. He smiled and pulled Derek into a tight hug, “Let’s go tell my dad now!”

Derek started and stammered, “Right now?”

Stiles winked, “Kidding. We can go on a date for real first and decide together when to tell him.”

Derek nodded then frowned, “Is he going to shoot me?”

“Don’t sweat it,” Stiles said as he dragged Derek back to the house to get his stuff, “He doesn’t have wolfsbane bullets so you would just heal.”

“Really comforting Stiles,” Derek said drolly.

Stiles laughed, throwing his head back and Derek pulled him to a stop and pressed in close for a kiss. It was their first kiss, Stiles refused to count the one forced from him and it was _everything_ Stiles had ever hoped it would.

When they told the Sheriff, he didn’t shoot Derek but it was a close thing.


End file.
